The Pendragon Adventure Rankings! [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with my LAST summer reading challenge post! I did individual posts on each book, as well as a series discussion post, so here are the links to all eleven posts:

The Merchant of Death

The Lost City of Faar

The Never War

The Reality Bug

Black Water

The Rivers of Zadaa

The Quillan Games

The Pilgrims of Rayne

Raven Rise

The Soldiers of Halla

Pendragon Series Discussion

Now, in this post, I'm going to be ranking my favorite covers, travelers, and territories!

Series Summary

The Pendragon Series is a young adult fantasy series. The beginning books could be classified as middle grade, but I think young adult is a better label. The series begins with the main character, Bobby Pendragon, at age 14. One day, his uncle suddenly shows up at Bobby's house and tells him that he needs some help. What Bobby doesn't realize is that he's about to be taken on the biggest adventure of his life. Bobby learns that there are 10 territories (alternate dimensions) and that he is a Traveler, a person tasked with the protection of the territories. Bobby quickly learns that a guy named Saint Dane is attempting to throw the territories into chaos, and it's Bobby's job (along with the travelers from the other territories) to stop him and save all of humanity.

Our main perspective is of Bobby, told in first-person through journals which he sends to his best friend to keep a record of what is happening. The secondary perspective is of Bobby's best friend, Mark, and pseudo-girlfriend, Courtney, who receive the journals and go through their own problems on Earth. The majority of the books focus on a single territory each, as Bobby travels there to thwart the evil Saint Dane.

Ranking The Covers

#10: The Pilgrims of Rayne

This cover. UGH. I immediately hated it when I first got the book, because Bobby looks totally different on this cover! If you look at the first 7 covers, it definitely looks like the same guy is on all of them, just aged up a bit each time. This one looks like a totally different person! Also, I recently discovered that this is also DJ MacHale's least favorite cover and that he not-so-lovingly refers to it as "Bobby the blue-eyed reindeer." I hadn't even noticed the reindeer thing. But all the other covers depict Bobby with dark eyes. You'd think they'd at least try to make it cohesive.

#9: The Lost City of Faar

It's not that I hate this cover. I just don't particularly like it. Maybe there's just too much orange. Because the water looks orange, his suit is orange, the bubble is orange, the ship is orange, the lettering is orange. Too much orange.

#8: The Reality Bug

Bobby looks a little weird on this cover. Not like bad or different, I just think that the way it's laid out, it almost makes him look even younger than on the Merchant of Death cover.

#7: The Rivers of Zadaa

Like the covers before it, I don't care a ton about this but it has Loor on the cover, and that bumps it up a lot. Loor makes everything better. 

#6: Black Water

I feel like this cover fits the book really well. You definitely get the jungle thing. Bobby definitely looks like he's aged, which is also indicative of the maturing of the series. And those eyes! Pretty cool cover.

#5: The Never War

I feel like this cover is one of the most well-connected to its story. Just at a glimpse, we can clearly see that it takes place in the past in New York!

#4: The Merchant of Death

When I think of the Pendragon series, I think of this cover. I feel like the first cover in a series is always the most iconic or memorable, and I think that's definitely what it is. 

#3: The Soldiers of Halla

I love the contrast between Bobby and Saint Dane on this one. It's really cool. You can see the beautiful Solara behind Bobby and it's just a really cool cover.

#2: Raven Rise

This book, like The Pilgrims of Rayne, still does make me slightly mad just because Bobby doesn't totally look like the previous books. But I really like the colors of this and the nazi-esque cover.

#1: The Quillan Games

Oh boy, I love love LOVE this cover! Red is my favorite color, so I love that everything is red accented. I love the castle and the depiction of Quillan with the huge screens. It perfectly matches the book and looks amazing while doing so!

Ranking The Territories

Although this list is mostly ranked due to interest factor, there are sometimes where a place won out because I'd prefer living there over another place.

#10: Eelong

I don't think that Eelong is the least interesting territory. Nope, I think that falls to the #9 spot. But this is the territory that I'd least like to live on. I'd rather not be treated like an animal, thanks!

#9: Zadaa

For me, Zadaa is the least interesting of all the territories. Many of the other territories have something really cool going on, but Zadaa is almost as close to Earth as you could get. No crazy weird animals, only a single sun... it's just not as cool and interesting. 

#8: Denduron

I like Denduron. I think it's really interesting with the Bedoowan versus the Milago and the huge castle carved into the mountain. However, I don't think it's quite as interesting as some of the other territories. 

#7: First Earth

If I were to choose a time in Earth's history to travel back to or have characters travel back to, 1930s New York would be pretty low on the list. Obviously, that's when the Hindenburg crash was, so that can't really be helped, but I just really wish that First Earth could have been in a slightly more interesting time in Earth's history. That being said, I'd much rather live on First Earth than any of the territories that fell lower on this list.  

#6: Second Earth

You probably think I'm crazy for putting the territory that we all live on (if we're pretending for a moment that other territories do, in fact, exist) so far down on the list. Allow me to explain. If this list were purely based on where I would want to live, yes, Second Earth would obviously be slightly higher. However, this list is based off of both how interesting I find a territory as well as how much I would want to live there. And because of the first aspect, this is slightly lower. Maybe Second Earth would be interesting to someone who lived on a different territory, but to humans on Second Earth, it's just... normal. 

#5: Ibara

When I first started re-reading this book, I felt a very strong resemblance to 1984 because of how information was withheld and because people could disappear just because they spoke their mind. But then when you dig deeper and find the truth about the society, it's incredibly interesting, and I especially loved the twist about the rest of the territory and the whole reconstruction plan. 

#4: Veelox

I'm a sucker for virtual reality. I wouldn't want to live in Veelox, but I would certainly love to go and visit and jump inside Lifelight just once. And because of the whole everyone-is-in-lifelight-and-not-actually-living thing, it definitely has the feel of a dystopian civilization, which is also one of my favorites to read about. 

#3: Third Earth

And when I say Third Earth, I'm obviously talking about the Third Earth we see at the beginning of the series. The untainted, perfect Third Earth. The technology is astounding, the people live in entire cities underground, on the moon, and underwater. Just... whoa. And they figured out how to stop destroying the earth. The only sad part is that actual books aren't really a thing on Third Earth. But that's a small price to pay... right? I would love to live on Third Earth. If I could bring some family members and a few friends with me, I'd be set.

#2: Quillan

Remember how I said that I really like dystopian worlds? Yep. Quillan. The entire society is really interesting! And though I don't know this for sure, it seems like DJ MacHale might be making some sort of statement about where our society is headed. Blok, a company, basically runs the entire territory. The poverty is out of control and people gamble with their lives. Literally. And let's not even get started on the games. I obviously wouldn't want to live on Quillan because it's a disaster, but it would be really cool to have a Quillan Games channel on my TV. 

#1: Cloral

Was there ever any doubt? Everyone loves Cloral! How cool would it be to live in a world that's made up completely of water and live on a floating city? They have such cool technology too, like the domes that mold to your head so you can breathe, and skimmers! Race you to Grollo's for sniggers! 

Ranking The Travelers

For this list, I stuck to just the travelers with Bobby/ of his generation of Travelers. And I decided to go with Elli Winter and exclude Nevva. Does Nevva even count at this point? Anyway, I also left Bobby off the list. Obviously, Bobby would be #1. Duh. He's our main character. But since that's a given, I decided to just rank the other 9 of them.

#9: Elli Winter (Quillan)

I don't hate Elli. Sure, I'm a little sad when women are really timid and scared and meek, but that's just me. But she's just not traveler material. She just can't handle anything. And she's also the traveler we see the least of, which doesn't help her chances of getting any higher on my list.

#8: Aja Killian (Veelox)

Aja is intelligent, confident, head-strong, and talented. Sounds like a character I would love, right? Well... maybe not so much. As a character, I have nothing against her, but as a traveler, I do. She caused so many problems for Bobby when he went to Veelox. She had problems cooperating and letting go of control so that Bobby could do what he knew best. She thought she knew it all and she didn't. Not a great quality for a traveler to have.

#7: Patrick Mac (Third Earth)

I really wanted to like Patrick. He's a really smart dude, and he's a professor (or is he just a teacher? Can't remember) And once again, I didn't dislike Patrick! I really didn't. But he just panicked and ended up causing problems that he couldn't fix. Cool guy, not so great for the whole traveler thing.

#6: Kasha (Eelong)

I grew to like Kasha eventually, but when we first meet her, she's a doozy. I think I was mostly annoyed with the fact that she didn't want anything to do with Bobby and hated him just because he represented the stuff her dad told her about. But it's always hard to shake bad first impressions, so I only like her a little.

#5: Siry Remudi

At first, he's incredibly frustrating and I wasn't really sure I would grow to like him, but when he eventually came around, he was super loyal to Bobby and I really ended up liking him.

#4: Gunny VanDyke

Gunny is just great. He's one of the most level-headed people in the entire series, and it's great that Bobby can depend on him and trust in him to pull through.

#3: Alder

He's such a lovable, clumsy teddy bear, and yet he's a highly trained fighter. He's such a loyal companion and always eager to jump in and to help Bobby. I'm just glad he's on our side.

#2: Spader

Spader is just great. He always has a great attitude about everything and keeps optimistic. He's such a fun guy but at the same time he's also incredibly loyal and wants to do what's right. He may not be a fighter, but he's lots of fun to have around. Hobey ho!

#1: Loor

How could anyone beat Loor? She's an amazing warrior. It takes her a while to appreciate Bobby but she quickly becomes his go-to traveler for whatever he needs. She's great to have on your side, and she's a great friend to Bobby, not just a companion. She's absolutely incredible, and she's certainly my favorite traveler, and probably my favorite character in the whole series.

So, that's it for my summer reading challenge! All of them are completely done! I can't believe the summer will be drawing to a close in less than a month! Seems really crazy!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

The Pendragon Adventure: Series Discussion! [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with one of my last summer reading challenge posts! I finished the final series in my challenge, which is super exciting! I did individual posts on each book, so here are the links to all ten posts:

The Merchant of Death

The Lost City of Faar

The Never War

The Reality Bug

Black Water

The Rivers of Zadaa

The Quillan Games

The Pilgrims of Rayne

Raven Rise

The Soldiers of Halla

Now, I'm here to discuss the series as a whole, including my opinions about the entire series, my rankings of the books, rankings of the covers, and some of my favorite things in the series.

Also, unlike the other series, there will be one more post about Pendragon. There were so many rankings that I wanted to do (books, covers, territories, and travelers) that I decided to do a separate Pendragon ranking post. I'll do the book rankings on this post, but the rest of them will be in that post, which should be up tomorrow!

Series Summary

The Pendragon Series is a young adult fantasy series. The beginning books could be classified as middle grade, but I think young adult is a better label. The series begins with the main character, Bobby Pendragon, at age 14. One day, his uncle suddenly shows up at Bobby's house and tells him that he needs some help. What Bobby doesn't realize is that he's about to be taken on the biggest adventure of his life. Bobby learns that there are 10 territories (alternate dimensions) and that he is a Traveler, a person tasked with the protection of the territories. Bobby quickly learns that a guy named Saint Dane is attempting to throw the territories into chaos, and it's Bobby's job (along with the travelers from the other territories) to stop him and save all of humanity.

Our main perspective is of Bobby, told in first-person through journals which he sends to his best friend to keep a record of what is happening. The secondary perspective is of Bobby's best friend, Mark, and pseudo-girlfriend, Courtney, who receive the journals and go through their own problems on Earth. The majority of the books focus on a single territory each, as Bobby travels there to thwart the evil Saint Dane.

Overall Opinions

Like most of the books I read in this reading challenge, this entire series was a re-read for me. I was a little concerned going into this re-read, because I was worried that now that I'm 20, I wouldn't like it as much as I did back when I read it in junior high. But I shouldn't have been concerned, because I absolutely loved it once again.

I really like the dual perspectives in this book, because it's great to see what's going on on Second Earth while Bobby is out jetting across Halla. This is especially interesting after the first few books.

Overall, I was really surprised by which books I really loved and which I didn't. I distinctly remembered not liking one section of the series, but ended up really loving that part this time while I was reading. 

Ranking The Books

#10: The Rivers of Zadaa

This book just is not my favorite, and it's for a combination of reasons. First off, the setting. Of the territories, I find Zadaa to be one of the least interesting. Each territory has something interesting going on with it that makes it unique, but Zadaa is just basically a desert. On top of that, we have a fairly basic plot. There are two tribes warring over water. And the argument is starting to heat up. Yes, many of the Pendragon books have plots that aren't as unique, but it's also the third Pendragon book to feature two tribes having conflicts with each other. It just got old. 

Favorite moment: I really loved the section where Bobby is training at Mooraj, as well as the ending. 

Rating: Overall, on a 10 star system, I'd give it 8 stars out of 10.

#9: The Never War

I knew going into the series that this book wouldn't be one of my favorites. I appreciated that Bobby was faced with his first real moral dilemma, but that was the only really intricate part of the book. And while I do enjoy First Earth, it's not quite as exciting as some totally foreign territories, and old-timey gangster stuff isn't really my thing and got old quickly. 

Favorite moment: The trip to Third Earth. Our first glimpse into Third Earth is just amazing.

Rating: I'd have to give it 8.25 stars out of 10.

#8: The Merchant of Death

I feel kinda sad putting the book that started it all at spot #8, but that's really where I think it belongs. I really love seeing Bobby freaking out about what's going on. Of the books, this is the one that's most obviously told from a 14 year old's POV. It sounds kinda childish, which is part of its downfall. The plot isn't my favorite as far as Pendragon books go, but I really like the way it introduces us to the series. It's very action-packed and exciting.

Favorite moment: Probably just the very beginning because at this point it's just extremely familiar to me.

Rating: I'm going to go with 8.5 stars out of 10 for this one.

#7: Raven Rise

As I expressed in the post about this book, I was very torn on my feelings about this book. On the list, after this one is when we get to the books I really enjoy in the series. Basically, I think that the book was really good, but I didn't particularly super super like it. Obviously, I did like it because it's not just tossed at the bottom of my list, but my kinda aesthetic displeasure got in the way just a smidge. 

Favorite moment: Uh... I guess maybe when Bobby gets back into the game?

Rating: Overall, I'd give it 9 stars out of 10.

#6: The Lost City of Faar

Setting, setting, setting. I've always been of the mindset that everyone's favorite Pendragon books are significantly effected by their favorite territories. Well, Cloral is certainly one of my favorite territories. It's just so much fun! Although the plot isn't super intricate, it's interesting and that is amplified by the fact that the territory is just so cool.

Favorite moment: When Bobby takes Spader to Zadaa!

Rating: I'd have to give it 9.25 stars out of 10.

#5: The Reality Bug

Yet another setting which creates an amazing book. I just find lifelight super interesting and love seeing all the sequences that go on because of it. 

Favorite moment: Any moment in lifelight!

Rating: I'd probably have to go with 9.4 stars out of 10. 

#4: Black Water

Black Water has possibly one of the best plots in the entire series. I love the back and forth with Bobby and Courtney and Mark, with all of them joining together for a single cause. It's really fast-paced and exciting. This one and #3 are pretty much tied, but it was my love of the territory of the other to set that one in the higher position. 

Favorite moment: I'm not sure that there's just one best moment. But it's always nice when we get to see Cloral!

Rating: Overall, I'd give it 9.6 stars out of 10.

#3: The Quillan Games

This is another one where the thing that made it amazing was the setting. I find Quillan super interesting. I love the games and I love the dystopian-esque world and I love that we got to hear the history of the world. It's just really interesting and I really love this one. 

Favorite moment: I mean, any time that the games are going on. So cool.

Rating: I'd have to give it 9.6 stars out of 10.

#2: The Soldiers of Halla

I went into this book thinking it was one of my least favorites, but my opinion changed very quickly. When I first started making this list, I had this book at #1 originally, but I kept constantly thinking about the book that I'd placed at #2. This one is certainly the most epic of the series and the whole shift in the mission and in the travelers' abilities is really amazing. And while it may be slightly more action-packed and epic than the one I placed at #1, I just completely fell in love with the other one, so this comes up as a mostly tied second. 

Favorite moment: I mean, can you really choose one in this? Maybe *SPOILER ALERT* when they finally defeat Saint Dane? 

Rating: I'm going with 9.8 stars out of 10.

#1: The Pilgrims of Rayne

Just like with The Soldiers of Halla, I originally didn't like this book. But when I re-read it this time, I fell in love. I wish that I could have erased my memory of this book so I didn't know about the major plot twist, but even though I knew that one, there were many things I forgot and got to experience as if it were the first time. The society of Ibara is so secretive and controlling of knowledge, and the plot of the book is really great... I just really love this book. Oh, and plus it has probably my favorite Mark/Courtney plot of the entire series.

Favorite moment: Oh man. All of it? Or maybe the part where the council explains stuff?
Rating: I was very tempted to go all out on 10 stars, but because it only edged ahead of Soldiers of Halla because of my love for it, I went with 9.8 out of 10 stars for this one as well. 

I got rid of those little favorite/least favorite sections, because one wasn't relevant, and others will be talked about tomorrow in my rankings post, which will be my last summer reading challenge post! Woohoo!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

The Pendragon Adventure Book 10: The Soldiers of Halla Discussion

Hey, y'all! I'm here with one of my last summer reading challenge posts! I've finally finished my July challenge: The Pendragon Adventure!

Series Info

Since this series is a little less well-known than the other series in my Summer Reading Challenge, I decided to discuss the premise of the series as a whole. The Pendragon Adventure is a 10 book series centered around our main character, Bobby, and his adventures through multiple dimensions (or territories, as they're called in the books). The books are told from a dual perspective. Our main perspective is of Bobby, told in first-person through journals which he sends to his best friend to keep a record of what is happening. The secondary perspective is of Bobby's best friend, Mark, and pseudo-girlfriend, Courtney, who receive the journals and go through their own problems on Earth. The majority of the books focus on a single territory each, as Bobby travels there to thwart the evil Saint Dane.

Book Summary
As always, remember not to read this if you haven't read the previous books in the series, because this summary will probably spoil you for any books that came before this one!

Everything has led to this. The final battle has begun, not just for the tenth and final territory, but for all of Halla. The travelers must finally learn the truth behind Saint Dane and Halla and must come together for one final showdown to save everything that exists, has existed, and will exist. The battle for Halla will soon be over.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

Oh, look at me, eating my words again. I'm starting to judge my younger self for my opinion on books. I can kinda get where my past-self was coming from, but my mind has been significantly changed. I've always remembered the last 3 books as the ones that totally took the series down a path that I did not like at all, but after this re-read, two of those books are now my two favorites in the series.

Going into this book, I remembered almost nothing about the plot. I distinctly remembered the beginning and the explanation of Halla, and I distinctly remembered the epilogue. That's it. It was like reading it for the first time. And I can kinda understand my younger self's dislike for this book, because those two sections that I remembered were the ones I was the most iffy about. I've never been a fan of the explanation that goes down in the first 70ish pages of this book. It gets a little too existential and... I hate to call it spiritual but I can't really figure out what other word to use. (I tried thesaurus.com and I'm still grasping at straws here). It comes out of nowhere, and I feel like it should have been integrated into the book before it a little so that it wasn't this sudden info dump. Because the info is vital to the rest of the book, but it seems to come out of left field.

Once we get past that, though, you'd better hang on because the battle has begun. This book is very fast paced. Normally, the first large chunk of the book is Bobby trying to figure out exactly what's going on. But we have all the info laid out quickly at the beginning of the book, so there are no secrets from there. It's just a constant battle, and I loved it.

As far as the epilogue goes, I didn't quite get it the first time I read it. The second time through, I understood what was going on and actually really liked it. I enjoyed seeing some parallels and seeing how DJ MacHale brought things together in the end.

One complaint I have about the book is that I feel like some of the explanations are glossed over. There are points when characters are like "yeah, I don't it either." I feel like there were a few things that DJ knew needed to be explained or at least addressed, and when he couldn't figure out how to explain it, he just decided that his characters would have no idea either. I've done this before in my own writing, and that seems to be what went on just a little in this book.

Overall, this gets at least 4.75 stars out of 5. I may end up giving it the full star value in the end, but right now it's battling with another book as to which will win top spot.

Spoilery Discussion!

OK, so... let's talk about Solara. I think that my main problem was that it was pretty much just comes out of nowhere. Suddenly, we're not just trying to save Halla, we're trying to save Solara, which is only preserved by the energy of those who are fighting back. I feel like if this concept was at least hinted to or brought up earlier, it wouldn't have felt like such a random shift. Once we got past all the existential stuff, their ability to use Solara's energy was really cool. The travelers are finally on the same playing field as Saint Dane, but not by stooping down to his tactics but by simply knowing what he knew. And the ability to just step into a different territory? Super cool.

I loved the Mark/Courtney plots. They each became leaders in their groups. 23- year-old Mark is such an awesome character. Finally confident, capable, and barely even stuttering! And of course, we all knew Courtney could keep everything together, no sweat.

I also really enjoyed the Nevva-isn't-actually-evil plot. It makes total sense. She was pulled in by Saint Dane's vision of the future. She thought she was fixing the problems. When she realized that Saint Dane didn't care about her opinions or really the opinions of anyone, anywhere in Halla, she realized her mistake. And I love that. Ultimately, she caused the fall of Saint Dane.

Finally, the epilogue. Like I said, I was so confused the first time around. I just didn't get it. But I finally realized what was going on. Bobby was sad that he fought for a normal life that he would never get to live... but he did get to live it, without any knowledge of Halla. And I was so confused about who it was who brought the box of journals until I noticed the parallel. The series starts with Uncle Press walking in on Courtney and Bobby kissing, and that's how it ends. The fact that he said he had 9 more to deliver made me tear up because that means that all of the other travelers were also able to live a full life that they had fought so hard to achieve, before returning home to Halla. I loved it.

Favorite Quotes

Page 17: Oh yeah, and Loor and I were nearly mauled by a polar bear. 
And Spader was hanging out with a penguin.

Page 77: Uncle Press laughed and shook his head. "I guess we've come full circle. I had to drag you into the fight, and now I can't drag you out."

Page 446: Uncle Press continued, "I think the Travelers , Aron, and Boon should be in the second wave. We will need them once we get inside."
"I will attack with the first wave," Loor said. It was a flat-out statement. There was no arguing with her. She wasn't going to hide behind anybody.
"As will I," Alder said.
"What about me?" Spader chimed in. "I think I'd like first crack at these wogglies. We earned it, didn't we?"
"Me too," Siry chimed in. 
"And me," Boon said.
Uncle Press looked to Aron. Aron shrugged. "It is not the time to be cautious."
Uncle Press shook his head and sighed. "Fine. Who picked you people anyway?"
"That would be you, mate," Spader said. "And you made some fine choices, I have to say."


So, there you go, that's all for this summer reading post! Have you read the Pendragon series? What do you think of the series? Let me know in the comments! My full series discussion post will be up soon, and will be followed by a ranking of my favorite travelers, territories, and covers!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

The Pendragon Adventure Book 9: Raven Rise Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I'm continuing on with my July challenge: The Pendragon Adventure!

Series Info

Since this series is a little less well-known than the other series in my Summer Reading Challenge, I decided to discuss the premise of the series as a whole. The Pendragon Adventure is a 10 book series centered around our main character, Bobby, and his adventures through multiple dimensions (or territories, as they're called in the books). The books are told from a dual perspective. Our main perspective is of Bobby, told in first-person through journals which he sends to his best friend to keep a record of what is happening. The secondary perspective is of Bobby's best friend, Mark, and pseudo-girlfriend, Courtney, who receive the journals and go through their own problems on Earth. The majority of the books focus on a single territory each, as Bobby travels there to thwart the evil Saint Dane.

Book Summary
As always, remember not to read this if you haven't read the previous books in the series, because this summary will probably spoil you for any books that came before this one!

Bobby Pendragon believes that it is over. He has trapped both himself and Saint Dane on Veelox, seemingly stopping Saint Dane from completing his plans. But what he doesn't know is that while he's isolated on the island of Ibara, Halla is falling apart. The battle has moved to his home territory of Second Earth, and Saint Dane's Convergence seems to be underway. Is it too late to save Halla?

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

I don't know how I feel about this book. Well, I guess I do, but I'm not sure why. And why is a pretty important factor in this situation. Although I ended up really loving The Pilgrims of Rayne even though I remembered disliking it, the same can't really be said for Raven Rise. I mentioned in my last post that I really disliked the turn that the last few books took. And after re-reading Raven Rise, I'm finding that I feel the same way. However, as I said, I'm not sure why I dislike it. I'm not sure whether I dislike it because I'm so frustrated with how calculated and well thought out Saint Dane is and how he's winning the upper hand or because I genuinely don't think that this is the way I think the series should go.

I think that's the epitome of my struggle with the last few books in this series. I have a hard time figuring out whether I don't like it because I hate that Saint Dane is getting the upper hand, or if the Convergence legitimately takes the series in a direction that was totally out of left field and doesn't fit with the rest of the series. I think it's probably a combination. I feel that although I like the book, my emotions toward it go more toward appreciation rather than liking.  Maybe I just crave the simplicity of the one territory per book plotline. As I said, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. Hopefully, my thoughts are more coherent in the wrap-up.

I also worry that my opinions of this book might be slightly clouded by my opinions on The Soldiers of Halla. A very confusing and (for me) extremely memorable scene occurs at the end of Raven Rise, and it prompts this big explanation about Travelers in The Soldiers of Halla, and I distinctly remember not being satisfied with that explanation at all... and I feel like that's partially clouding my opinion of Raven Rise.

I also feel like Raven Rise is a lot choppier than any of the other books. Usually, we get a nice back and forth between Bobby's POV and Mark & Courtney's. In Raven Rise, however, we have Alder, Mark & Courtney, Patrick, and Bobby. Just when we get into one story, we're bounced to another.

As far as rating, I'm a little torn, which makes sense since I don't exactly know how I feel. I do feel that it's one of the more intricate and well-constructed Pendragon books, so I'll give it 4.25-4.5 stars because of that.  More accurate rating TBD in my wrap-up.

Spoilery Discussion!

If I were to choose one word to explain this book, I think it would be confusing. All the changes occurring with Halla because of the Convergence had me really confused. Especially the timelines. It seemed sometimes like Nevva and Saint Dane would have to be in multiple different places at once for their plans to work out. The changes to Second Earth kept me confused, as did the changes to Third Earth.

I'm also kinda getting tired of Saint Dane's plans always working out just how he wanted them. Even when Bobby thinks he's doing something that's finally going to take Saint Dane by surprise, he's playing right into Saint Dane's plans! There's no way he could plan this whole elaborate scheme so perfectly to know exactly how Bobby will react to events.

Also, that scene at the end with all the Travelers showing up in this desolate wasteland... huh? I know it's explained early on in The Soldiers of Halla, but I can't remember the explanation, so right now nothing makes sense. I'm confused.

Sorry this discussion is totally incoherent, but I think I'll have my thoughts together for the last book.

Favorite Quotes

Page 116: "I'm not your friend."
"Yes, of course. I hope that by now you understand exactly where our differences lie."
"I do. I'm trying to protect the territories, and you're trying to kill everyone. I've had that one down for a while now."

Page 432: I grabbed Alder's arm and squeezed. "You're my brother. There's nobody I'd rather be here with. Actually, I'd rather not be here at all, but since I am, I'm glad you are too."

Page 446: "How many of those suits do you have? Do you like, send them to the laundry, or just toss 'em out and put on a new one when it gets all gamey?"
Saint Dane chuckled. I amused him. 
"Does it matter?" he asked.
"It was a joke, idiot." On top of everything else wrong with him, Saint Dane didn't have much of a sense of humor. Except when I amused him. Which happened a lot, I'm sorry to say.
"I'm glad to see that you're in a good mood. You should be. Our struggle has finally come to an end. Perhaps we should celebrate."
"Perhaps you should bite me."

Page 458: "There will be no more protests. No more dissension. No more violence. There will be only one voice. The voice of Ravinia. The voice of Halla. Your voice."
"There goes freedom of speech," I said.
Saint Dane didn't react.



So, there you go, that's all for this summer reading post! Have you read the Pendragon series? What do you think of the series? Let me know in the comments!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

The Pendragon Adventure Book 8: The Pilgrims of Rayne Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I'm continuing on with my July challenge: The Pendragon Adventure!

Series Info

Since this series is a little less well-known than the other series in my Summer Reading Challenge, I decided to discuss the premise of the series as a whole. The Pendragon Adventure is a 10 book series centered around our main character, Bobby, and his adventures through multiple dimensions (or territories, as they're called in the books). The books are told from a dual perspective. Our main perspective is of Bobby, told in first-person through journals which he sends to his best friend to keep a record of what is happening. The secondary perspective is of Bobby's best friend, Mark, and pseudo-girlfriend, Courtney, who receive the journals and go through their own problems on Earth. The majority of the books focus on a single territory each, as Bobby travels there to thwart the evil Saint Dane.

Book Summary
As always, remember not to read this if you haven't read the previous books in the series, because this summary will probably spoil you for any books that came before this one!

Following a defeat on the territory of Quillan, Bobby follows Saint Dane to the territory of Ibara, which appears to be an island paradise. But not everything is as it seems in the town of Rayne, where secrets run rampant and the Traveler doesn't want anything to do with the battle for Halla. Meanwhile, Courtney is busy trying to find Mark, before he sets a devastating series of events into motion.

Overall Thoughts

Non-spoiler section!

I'm eating my words. All of them. I'm not sure if I've said this on any previous posts, but I've always disliked the turn this series took near the end. I distinctly remember being disappointed with books 8-10. But I also read #8 at the age of 13, #9 at 14, and #10 at 15. And I haven't re-read them. So it's been a while. Which is why I'm currently eating my words.

This is easily the most complex and intricate Pendragon book so far. Both of the plots (Bobby's and Courtney's) were extremely interesting and compelling. Rather than the little breaks in action that we get from Courtney and Mark's plot, Courtney's plot is just as full-speed-ahead as Bobby's. I remembered one of the major twists in the book, but forgot a few others, as well as forgetting some of the Courtney plot. This read-though, I was significantly more impressed than I was the first time. Honestly y'all, depending on how much I enjoy books 9 and 10, this may be my new favorite. That's how impressed I was with this read-through.

If I were to choose one word to describe this book, it would be INTENSE. There's constantly something exciting going on, whether it's on Bobby's end or Courtney's end. Speaking of ends... THAT ENDING! I remembered that something major happened near the end, but I couldn't remember what events caused it to happen. I remembered it being an accident, when it was actually very purposeful. Whoa. Very intense.

As far as rating, I'm  not going to jump and give it a full 5 stars out of 5, but I will say that it's at least 4.5- 4.75 and might be bumped up in the series post. 

Spoilery Discussion!

Before I get into everything I really enjoyed about this book, I need to get one big complaint off my chest. And it's not so much a complaint about The Pilgrims of Rayne as it is with the entire series. Every single book, Bobby does some sort of recap in his journal. We get told information that we already know from the series. Bobby is writing this journal to Mark and Courtney, who have read all the journals, and who even experienced some of the events, so explaining what Halla is or that he's a traveler is just ridiculous because they already know all that stuff. These little recaps were clearly thrown in there in case someone randomly picked up a book in the middle of the series and started reading it, but I find that stupid. The recaps don't give enough information to sufficiently inform a new reader about what's going on, and I'm not sure why you would even cater to them. By recapping, you're discouraging someone from picking up the series from the beginning. Authors should be catering to their dedicated readers, not some idiot who would start reading the 8th book in a series without reading any of the previous books. But enough of my rant.

Ok, so there were a lot of twists and turns going on in this book. Let's start with the one I remembered most vividly from my first read: the fact that Ibara was actually part of Veelox. I remember being shocked the first time I read it. Just, whoa. I hadn't seen that coming at all.

Secondly, Saint Dane's dado army. I forgot the majority of the plot of this one, except for Courtney's plot, so the dado army surprised me. I'd forgotten that he was using a dado army. But it's Saint Dane, so I shouldn't be surprised.

I also found the whole Ibara/Veelox story really interesting. Back when I first read this, I'm not even sure I knew what world-building was. And I certainly didn't know what aspects of books that I really wanted fleshed out. Oh, how times have changed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: world-building/a very fleshed out world is one of my favorite aspects in books. And that's done so well in this book. First, we see this very secretive society of Ibara- the one where the Tribunal keeps secrets from the people and people disappear for voicing opinions. Then, we discover the bigger picture and the destruction of Rubic City. Finally, and my personal favorite, we learn how everything happened through the Tribunal and everything makes sense. It's just so well crafted and I loved every second of it.

Finally (for Bobby's plot, at least), the mixing of the territories. Oh boy. I've got to hand it to Bobby- he was really clever about it. He planned it out and in theory, it was a great plan. He thought several steps ahead, and honestly, it's kinda Saint Dane-like thinking. This also brings up a bit of a "moral" dilemma about whether mixing the territories is allowable or should be avoided. I'm about to spoil some stuff about the later books, so if you haven't read past this book, skip the rest of the paragraph. *SPOILER ALERT* It's been 6 years since I read Raven Rise, and 5 since The Soldiers of Halla, but if I remember correctly, the Convergence is all about mixing the territories (hence the title "Convergence"). This is clearly why Uncle Press told Bobby not to mix the territories, because although it might help an individual territory, it's also helping Saint Dane's long-term plan. Why couldn't Bobby trust Press and not the villain?! *SPOILER ALERT OVER*

Now, on to Courtney's plot. Like I said, this was also really exciting. It wasn't quite as intense as Bobby's plot, but it's pretty intense. Courtney and Dodger's journey to stop Mark was really exciting, and the action just kept building and building, along with the confusion. I think a lot of the reason I got mad at this book the first time through was because it seemed like Mark was too easily manipulated. But honestly, if it had been my parents who died, I would've done anything to save them. So it's very understandable. Although I did get really annoyed at Mark. I could kinda understand that he might believe or want to believe that Courtney was the one who was confused and had been manipulated, but I draw the line at Mark thinking Courtney was purposely lying to him. Sure, trust this bully-suddenly-turned-nice-guy over your best friend. That makes sense.

OK, that's way longer than I intended, but I just had so much to say!

Favorite Quotes

Page 1: The future isn't what it used to be.
I love that as an opening line. Too great.

Page 209: P.S. This is from Spader, mates. Tell Pendragon that I've thought long and hard about the things he's said to me. I guess you might say I've done a little growing up here in the jungles of Eelong. Tell him I'm ready. I'm with him. And when the time comes, I'll follow him to the ends of Halla.
After that, the last one to Grolo's buys the sniggers.
Hobey-ho,
Your mate, Spader
Honestly teared up while reading that. I absolutely love Spader.

Page 328: "Who are you!" Siry screamed in anger.
I gripped him tighter, holding him back.
"Don't you know?" Saint Dane said with glee. "I'm the boogeyman."
Oh hey, Saint Dane does have a sense of humor! A really twisted one, but I wouldn't expect anything different from him.



So, there you go, that's all for this summer reading post! Have you read the Pendragon series? What do you think of the series? Let me know in the comments!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!